The call for proposals for the 10th annual TRU Undergraduate Research & Innovation Conference is now closed.

Everyone who submitted a proposal should have received a response on either February 13 or 14. If you submitted a proposal before the February 9 deadline and have NOT received a response, please contact TRUUndergradconf@gmail.com as soon as possible.

Just a friendly reminder about presenting research at the 2015 TRU Undergraduate Conference this March (27th&28th). The deadline for proposals is midnight Monday February 2, 2015.

The link for the Application Form is available on the left side of the page. We welcome proposals from all programs, departments, and areas of study at TRU. To be considered, proposals must come from current TRU undergraduate students, and students must have a faculty supervisor willing to sign off on the topic.

All students who submit a proposal will be notified of its acceptance by Friday February 13, 2015.

As you know, your conference application needs to include an abstract – which, in a nutshell, summarizes your research project: your focus, method, discussion points and conclusion.

The abstract will be read by the conference organizers who review the proposals. It will also be included in the online conference program, where it will help generate interest in your research and attract an audience to your presentation. This means that your audience may not be specialists in your field, so your writing needs to be clear and concise.

An abstract should generally include:

What is the problem/background to your research

Why did you do this study or project

How did you approach the problem (what did you do? Interviews? A comparative literature review? New creative content? Calculations? A controlled lab experiment?)

What did you find, or what do you hope to find if it’s ongoing research

Who cares? What makes this work important or significant? Why should your audience be interested?

Overall:

aim for 100 – 250 words. Be concise; people can find out more at your presentation!

in general, try to avoid I and we (instead, “the study tested…” “the short story illustrates…” etc.)

get feedback on your abstract before you submit your proposal – both from your faculty supervisor, and from someone outside of your discipline.

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A few examples that were accepted for last year’s conference:

1. This Isn’t Home: Reshaping Neekanan (Our Home)

Lucier Laboucan, Kateri

This research project analyzes the current housing crisis found on reserves in Northern Canada using the Fox Lake Indian Reserve as a case study. Poor, decrepit, substandard and overcrowded housing conditions on Canada’s First Nations reserves continue to be a growing social concern, impacting the well-being of First Nations People across Canada. This crisis is often highlighted in the media, in which the conditions are comparable to those in developing countries. The deplorable conditions described may seem unbelievable, however, through the findings in this research, the reality facing First Nations People living on Canada’s Indian Reserves is revealed in the words of community members living on the Fox Lake Indian Reserve. Through a series of interviews with community members, key themes emerged that offer valuable insight into how a revised house design, that better reflects a Peoples’ way of life, can contribute to improved living conditions. The conclusions drawn from the research demonstrate the importance of understanding a Peoples’ culture and letting this understanding guide further practice.

2. Determination and Quantification of Taurine in Energy Drinks through Capillary Electrophoresis

Milne, Tallon

A procedure using capillary electrophoresis (CE) with UV absorption detection was developed to determine taurine concentrations in Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar energy drinks. The popularity of energy drinks containing taurine has been on a steady rise, since this ingredient is described as an energy booster, and has been linked to increased athletic performance. Taurine is a non-essential, sulphur containing amino acid that is present at high concentrations in humans. It is not incorporated into proteins and is the most abundant free amino acid in the heart, brain, and retina, as well as in skeletal muscle and leukocytes. The goal of this research is to establish optimal CE conditions for taurine detection and the determination of taurine concentrations in three different brands of energy drinks. The current literature describes taurine detection using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a technique that lacks precision, requires a greater amount of sample for analysis, and is not as cost effective. By comparison, CE is a much more efficient detection and quantification method. In future, this research could lead to analysis of taurine metabolism in biological systems, to examine the potential of this molecule as a possible biomarker for disease.

The Application Form for the 2015 Undergraduate Research & Innovation Conference is now available. You have until February 2, 2015 to submit an application.

Before doing so, we recommend that you:

– consider whether you want to give a 15 minute talk, present a poster, or both
– think about a title that it both catchy and that describes your presentation
– write your ABSTRACT in Word; get an edited final version ready, and then just cut and paste it into the form
– discuss your presentation and get input on your abstract from a faculty supervisor who is willing to assist you with preparing for the conference

You will be notified whether your proposal has been accepted or not by Friday February 13th.

This year’s Undergraduate Research & Innovation Conference will take place March 27-28, 2015. This is a great time to start thinking about presenting your work from your Fall Semester courses. Look for a Call for Proposals later in November, on our website (http://ugc.sites.tru.ca/) and promoted around campus.

The deadline for proposals will be midnight Monday February 2, 2015. All students who submit a proposal will be notified whether it’s been accepted by Friday February 13, 2015 (so that they can start preparing over Reading Week).

We welcome proposals from all programs, departments, and areas of study at TRU. To be considered, proposals must come from current TRU undergraduate students, and students must have a faculty supervisor willing to sign off and agree to help them prepare – so start talking with instructors now if there is work you’re thinking about sharing.